Fixing structure for battery module

ABSTRACT

A fixing structure for a battery module having a first coupling portion and a second coupling portion, includes a base and a rotating member pivotally mounted to the base. The base has a first fixing portion and a second fixing portion. The first fixing portion includes a first end for being coupled to the first coupling portion, and a second end communicating with the first end thereof and for fixing the first coupling portion. The second fixing portion includes a first end for being coupled to the second coupling portion, and a second end communicating with the first end thereof and for fixing the second coupling portion. The rotating member includes a third fixing portion for being fixed to the first end of the first fixing portion, and a poking portion for allowing the third fixing portion to be separated from the first end of the first fixing portion.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to fixing structures, and more particularly, to a fixing structure for assembling a battery module to an electronic device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With development of the information technology, various kinds of electronic devices have been developed. In response to the requirement of expanding the amount of processing data and the operational efficiency, the electronic devices are necessarily provided with a sufficient supply of power. Besides having a power-saving design for the electronic device itself to allow power to be more effectively used, a common approach is to prepare a portable spare battery for the electronic device.

Taking an electronic device such as a desktop computer, a notebook computer or a server as an example, a cache memory is typically provided on a mainboard of the electronic device. When the electronic device is turned on, a power supply unit supplies power to the cache memory such that data can be temporarily stored in the cache memory without being vanished. However, when the electronic device is shut down, the cache memory no longer has power being supplied by the power supply unit, and the data stored in the cache memory are accordingly vanished. Therefore, in order to completely reserve the data, a cache memory battery module is usually provided in the electronic device.

A battery module is generally mounted in an electronic device by a fixing structure. As shown in FIG. 1, the fixing structure comprises a fixing mount 2 having a size corresponding to that of the battery module 10. The fixing mount 2 is mounted in the electronic device such as a server (not shown), and then the battery module 10 is fixed to the fixing mount 2. This fixing structure uses screws for fixing, wherein the battery module 10 is formed with holes 101, and the fixing mount 2 is provided with studs 21 corresponding to the holes 101, allowing screws 9 to be inserted into the studs 21 and the holes 101 to combine the fixing mount 2 with the battery module 10.

Although the use of screws provides a secure fixing effect, since an inner space of the server is normally small, any assistant tool such as a screwdriver entering the inner space of the server to lock the screws may easily touch an important component such as a mainboard of the server and cause damage to the server. Moreover, not all servers have enough space for allowing the screw-locking action to be easily performed therein. Thereby, it is complicated and time-ineffective to perform the fixing process with the screws, and it may happen during the fixing process that the screws drop into the server and cause electrically interrupt at some areas of the server. Accordingly, the conventional fixing structure using screws not only requires the assistant tool for assembly and disassembly of the battery module to and from the fixing structure, but also causes inconvenience in performing the fixing process.

Moreover, when the battery module is disassembled from the fixing mount of the above fixing structure by unscrewing the screws, this action may often be affected by the surroundings and cause drop or loss of the screws. Therefore, such conventional fixing technology using screws not only makes disassembling and assembling processes of the battery module to and from the fixing structure not time-effective to implement but also increases the cost for the screws if they drop or are lost.

Accordingly, there has been proposed another method for fixing a battery module to a fixing mount in an engagement manner. As shown in FIG. 2, the fixing mount 6 includes two holes 61 and an elastic hook 63, and the battery module 5 includes two tenons 501 respectively corresponding to the two holes 61, and a groove 503 corresponding to the elastic hook 63. When assembling the battery module 5 to the fixing mount 6, firstly, the tenons 501 are inserted into the holes 61, and then the battery module 5 is pressed towards the fixing mount 6 until the elastic hook 63 is engaged with the groove 503, such that the battery module 5 is fixed to the fixing mount 6.

However, it is found that the above engagement-fixing structure after being tested may have the battery module easily dropping from the fixing mount especially during movement of an electronic device provided with such battery module. Moreover, the elastic hook used in the engagement-fixing structure may easily become fatigued or may be cracked and broken if not being used properly. Accordingly, the fabrication cost is increased and the product yield is reduced, such that the above engagement-fixing mechanism is considered necessary to be improved for these drawbacks.

Therefore, the problem to be solved here is to provide a fixing structure for a battery module, which can overcome the foregoing drawbacks of the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In light of the foregoing drawbacks of the prior art, an objective of the present invention is to provide a fixing structure for a battery module that can be assembled and disassembled to and from the fixing structure without any assistant tool.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide a fixing structure for a battery module to allow assembling and disassembling processes of the battery module to and from the fixing structure to be quickly and conveniently performed.

Still another objective of the present invention is to provide a fixing structure for a battery module, so as to well fix the battery module to an electronic device.

A further objective of the present invention is to provide a fixing structure for a battery module, so as to decrease the fabrication cost.

A further objective of the present invention is to provide a fixing structure for a battery module, so as to improve the product yield.

In order to attain the above and other objectives, the present invention proposes a fixing structure for a battery module having a first coupling portion and a second coupling portion. The fixing structure includes a base and a rotating member. The base has a first fixing portion and a second fixing portion, wherein the first fixing portion includes a first end for being coupled to the first coupling portion and a second end communicating with the first end thereof and for fixing the first coupling portion, and the second fixing portion includes a first end for being coupled to the second coupling portion and a second end communicating with the first end thereof and for fixing the second coupling portion. The rotating member is pivotally mounted to the base, and includes a third fixing portion for being fixed to the first end of the first fixing portion, and a poking portion for allowing the third fixing portion to be separated from the first end of the first fixing portion.

Preferably, the first fixing portion and the second fixing portion are openings. The base further includes a first combining portion for being connected to the rotating member, wherein the first combining portion can be a stud. The third fixing portion of the rotating member can be a lug, a stopper, a bearing rib or a tenon. The rotating member further includes a second combining portion for being connected to the base, wherein the second combining portion can be a screw hole. The rotating member further includes a limit portion for limiting the third fixing portion, wherein the limit portion can be a lug, a stopper, a bearing rib or a tenon.

The battery module can be provided in an electronic device. By the above fixing structure of the present invention, the battery module can be assembled and disassembled to and from the fixing structure without any assistant tool, so as to easily fix the battery module in the electronic device by means of the fixing structure, such that the battery module can supply power to a cache memory of the electronic device to reserve data in the cache memory.

Compared with the prior art, by the fixing structure including the base and the rotating member according to the present invention, there is no need to use screws and various drawbacks caused by using the screws in the prior art can be eliminated, such as inconvenient in operation, time-ineffective assembly and disassembly processes, and increased cost for the screws, and so on. Therefore, assembling and disassembling processes of the battery module to and from the fixing structure can be performed quickly and conveniently by means of the fixing structure of the present invention without any assistant tool.

Moreover, the fixing structure of the present invention can well fix the battery module to the electronic device, and does not require an elastic hook that may easily become fatigued, cracked or broken. Further, the use of the fixing structure of the present invention can decrease the fabrication cost and improve the product yield, thereby overcoming the drawbacks of the prior art.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The present invention can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, with reference made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 (PRIOR ART) is an exploded schematic diagram of a conventional fixing structure and a battery module to which the fixing structure is applied;

FIG. 2 (PRIOR ART) is an exploded schematic diagram of another conventional fixing structure and a battery module to which the fixing structure is applied;

FIG. 3 is an exploded schematic diagram of a fixing structure for a battery module according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an assembly schematic diagram of the fixing structure of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an exploded schematic diagram of the fixing structure according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention and a battery module to which the fixing structure is applied;

FIG. 6 is an assembly schematic diagram of the fixing structure and the battery module of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is an assembly schematic diagram of the fixing structure and the battery module according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Preferred embodiments of a fixing structure for a battery module according to the present invention are described as follows with reference to FIGS. 3 to 7. It is to be noted that the drawings are simplified schematic diagrams and only show components relating to the present invention. In practice, the layout of components could be more complicated. It should be understood that the following embodiments are not construed to limit the scope of the present invention.

It should be noted that the fixing structure of the present invention can be applied to a battery module used in an electronic device such as a desktop computer, a notebook computer, a server or any other electronic device having a cache memory. In the following embodiments, the battery module used in the server is taken as an example, which does not set a limitation for the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, the fixing structure 1 of the present embodiment comprises a base 11 and a rotating member 13. The base 11 has a first fixing portion 111 and a second fixing portion 113, wherein the first fixing portion 111 includes a first end 1111 and a second end 1113 communicating with the first end 1111, and the second fixing portion 113 includes a first end 1131 and a second end 1133 communicating with the first end 1131. The first fixing portion 111 and the second fixing portion 113 can be openings with the same shape. The base 11 further has a first combining portion 115 and an opening 117, wherein the first combining portion 115 can be disposed between the first fixing portion 111 and the opening 117 and can be a stud.

The rotating member 13 is pivotally mounted to the base 11. The rotating member 13 comprises a third fixing portion 131 for being fixed to the first end 1111 of the first fixing portion 111; a poking portion 133 for allowing the third fixing portion 131 to be separated from the first end 1111 of the first fixing portion 111; and a second combining portion 135 corresponding to the first combining portion 115. The third fixing portion 131 can be a lug as shown in FIG. 3, but can be a stopper, a bearing rib, a tenon or any other equivalent structure in other embodiments. The poking portion 133 can be an L-shaped bent piece, and the second combining portion 135 can be a screw hole.

Moreover, the rotating member 13 further has a limit portion 137 for limiting the third fixing portion 131, and the base 11 further has a fourth fixing portion 119 for fixing the limit portion 137. The limit portion 137 can be a stopper in this embodiment, but can be a lug, a bearing rib, a tenon or any other equivalent structure in other embodiments. The fourth fixing portion 119 can be a semicircular bearing rib, or any other equivalent structure capable of fixing the limit portion 137. In addition, a combining component 7 can be employed to pivotally mount the rotating member 13 to the base 11. When the rotating member 13 is inserted into the opening 117 of the base 11, and the second combining portion 135 of the rotating member 13 is put around the first combining portion 115 of the base 11, the rotating member 13 can be pivotally mounted to the base 11 by the combining component 7 that is coupled to the first combining portion 115 and the second combining portion 135. As shown in FIG. 4, the assembled fixing structure 1 is obtained after combining the base 11 with the rotating member 13.

The fixing structure 1 in this embodiment can be assembled with a battery module 3. The battery module 3 has a first coupling portion 31 and a second coupling portion 33. As shown in FIG. 5, when it is to assemble the battery module 3 to the fixing structure 1, the first coupling portion 31 and the second coupling portion 33 of the battery module 3 can be inserted into the first ends 1111, 1131 of the first and second fixing portions 111, 113 of the fixing structure 1, respectively. In this embodiment, the first coupling portion 31 and the second coupling portion 33 can be tenons. The first ends 1111, 1131 of the first and second fixing portions 111, 113 are sized relatively wider to sufficiently accommodate the first and second coupling portions 31, 33, respectively, and the second ends 1113, 1133 of the first and second fixing portions 111, 113 are sized relatively narrower for fixing the first and second coupling portions 31, 33, respectively.

When the first and second coupling portions 31, 33 of the battery module 3 are inserted into the first ends 1111, 1131 of the first and second fixing portions 111, 113, respectively, the rotating member 13 can be rotated, for example by finger(s), to allow the third fixing portion 131 to abut against the first coupling portion 31 and push the first coupling portion 31 into the second end 1113 of the first fixing portion 111, and simultaneously the second coupling portion 33 is operationally associated with the first coupling portion 31 and pushed into the second end 1133 of the second fixing portion 113, such that the first and second coupling portions 31, 33 are fixed by the second ends 1113, 1133 of the first and second fixing portions 111, 113, respectively, and at the same time the third fixing portion 131 of the rotating member 13 still abuts against the first coupling portion 31 to maintain the fixing status of the first and second coupling portions 31, 33.

Alternatively, when the first and second coupling portions 31, 33 of the battery module 3 are inserted into the first ends 1111, 1131 of the first and second fixing portions 111, 113, respectively, the battery module 3 can be moved, for example by finger(s), to push the first and second coupling portions 31, 33 into the second ends 1113, 1133 of the first and second fixing portions 111, 113, respectively, and then the rotating member 13 can be rotated to allow the third fixing portion 131 to abut against the first coupling portion 31, such that the first and second coupling portions 31, 33 are fixed by the second ends 1113, 1133 of the first and second fixing portions 111, 113, respectively, and the third fixing portion 131 abutting against the first coupling portion 31 maintains the fixing status of the first and second coupling portions 31, 33. FIG. 6 shows the assembled fixing structure 1 and battery module 3.

As shown in FIG. 6, when the battery module 3 is assembled to the fixing structure 1, the limit portion 137 of the rotating member 13 is blocked by the fourth fixing portion 119 of the base 11 and keeps the third fixing portion 131 abutting against the first coupling portion 31 to maintain the fixing status of the first and second coupling portions 31, 33 of the battery module 3. Accordingly, the fixing structure 1 can be mounted to the electronic device such as a server (not shown), for example, the fixing structure 1 may further comprise a connecting piece 15 formed on a side of the base 11 and for mounting the fixing structure 1 to the electronic device, such that the battery module 3 assembled to the fixing structure 1 can provide power to a cache memory (not shown) of the electronic device.

It should be understood that the limit portion 137 and the fourth fixing portion 119, which are used to keep the third fixing portion 131 abutting against the first coupling portion 31 in this embodiment, may be modified in structure according to a structure of the electronic device or any other design requirements in other embodiments. For example, the limit portion 137 and the fourth fixing portion 119 may be modified to have mutually matching concave and convex structures, or any equivalent structure that can keep the third fixing portion 131 abutting against the first coupling portion 31 and also allow the third fixing portion 131 to be separated from the first end 1111 of the first fixing portion 111 after operating the poking portion 133 of the rotating member 13.

For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the limit portion 137 can be formed with a groove 1371, and the fourth fixing portion 119 can be a protrusion corresponding to the groove 1371, and in this embodiment, there are two fourth fixing portions 119 provided to respectively keep the third fixing portion 13 1 abutting against the first coupling portion 31 of the battery module 3 and separate the third fixing portion 131 from the first coupling portion 31. Similarly as the foregoing embodiment, the limit portion 137 can be fixed by one of the fourth fixing portions 119 to keep the third fixing portion 131 abutting against the first coupling portion 31 but not permanently locking the first coupling portion 31.

Thus, by operating or pressing/lifting the poking portion 133, the limit portion 137 can be moved to the one of the fourth fixing portions 119 where the third fixing portion 131 is kept abutting against the first coupling portion 31, or can be moved to the other one of the fourth fixing portions 119 where the third fixing portion 131 is allowed to separate from the first end 1111 of the first fixing portion 111.

When it is to disassemble the battery module 3 from the fixing structure 1, a user can simply operate the poking portion 133 with finger(s) to make the limit portion 137 separate from the fourth fixing portion 119 and associatively make the third fixing portion 131 separate from the first end 1111 of the first fixing portion 111 (for the embodiment shown in FIG. 6), or to make the limit portion 137 separate from the one of the fourth fixing portions 119 and associatively make the third fixing portion 131 separate from the first end 1111 of the first fixing portion 111 (for the embodiment shown in FIG. 7), such that the first coupling portion 31 and the second coupling portion 33 of the battery module 3 can be uncoupled from the first and second fixing portions 111, 113 with the user's finger(s), and the battery module 3 can be removed.

The fixing structure 1 is assembled with the battery module 3 and then is mounted to the electronic device as described in the above embodiment. It should be understood that alternatively the fixing structure can be mounted to the electronic device before the battery module is assembled to the fixing structure. The order of steps of the assembling and disassembling processes in the present invention is not particularly limited to that described in the above embodiments.

Compared with the prior art, by the fixing structure including the base and the rotating member according to the present invention, there is no need to use screws and various drawbacks caused by using the screws in the prior art can be eliminated, such as inconvenient in operation, time-ineffective assembly and disassembly processes, and increased cost for the screws, and so on. Therefore, assembling and disassembling processes of the battery module to and from the fixing structure can be performed quickly and conveniently by finger(s) and without any assistant tool by means of the fixing structure of the present invention.

Moreover, the fixing structure of the present invention can well fix the battery module to the electronic device, and does not require an elastic hook that may easily become fatigued, cracked or broken. Further, the use of the fixing structure of the present invention can decrease the fabrication cost and improve the product yield, thereby overcoming the drawbacks of the prior art.

The present invention has been described using exemplary preferred embodiments above, however, it is to be understood that the scope of the present invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar changes. The scope of the claims, therefore, should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements. 

1. A fixing structure for a battery module having a first coupling portion and a second coupling portion, the fixing structure comprising: a base having a first fixing portion and a second fixing portion, wherein the first fixing portion comprises a first end for being coupled to the first coupling portion and a second end communicating with the first end thereof and for fixing the first coupling portion, and the second fixing portion comprises a first end for being coupled to the second coupling portion and a second end communicating with the first end thereof and for fixing the second coupling portion; and a rotating member pivotally mounted to the base, the rotating member comprising a third fixing portion for being fixed to the first end of the first fixing portion, and a poking portion for allowing the third fixing portion to be separated from the first end of the first fixing portion.
 2. The fixing structure of claim 1, wherein the first fixing portion is an opening.
 3. The fixing structure of claim 1, wherein the second fixing portion is an opening.
 4. The fixing structure of claim 1, wherein the base further comprises a first combining portion for being connected to the rotating member.
 5. The fixing structure of claim 4, wherein the first combining portion is a stud.
 6. The fixing structure of claim 1, wherein the third fixing portion is selected from the group consisting of a lug, a stopper, a bearing rib and a tenon.
 7. The fixing structure of claim 1, wherein the rotating member further comprises a second combining portion for being connected to the base.
 8. The fixing structure of claim 7, wherein the second combining portion is a screw hole.
 9. The fixing structure of claim 1, wherein the rotating member further comprises a limit portion for limiting the third fixing portion.
 10. The fixing structure of claim 9, wherein the limit portion is selected from the group consisting of a lug, a stopper, a bearing rib and a tenon. 